This guideline provides recommendations for the clinical utility of assessment rating scales for sialorrhea, dysphagia, and constipation for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). The target audience of the guideline is healthcare professionals involved in the management of individuals with Parkinson’s disease. A number of rating scales specific to swallowing and sialorrhea were included such as the Drooling Severity and Frequency Scale (DSFS), Drooling Rating Scale (DRS), and Sialorrhea Clinical Scale for PD (SCS-PD) as well as the Swallowing Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ) and Dysphagia-Specific Quality of Life (SWAL-QOL). Recommendations are defined as “recommended” or “suggested” based on the the following criteria: Rating scales were considered "recommended" if they were 1) used in clinical studies from non-developers, 2) targeted the PD population and 3) had established reliability and validity. Scales were considered "suggested" if they met some, but not all of the recommended criteria.

Recommendations:

Assessment/Diagnosis

Assessment Instruments

Swallowing

Questionnaire/Rating Scales - No scales were considered recommended based on their validity, reliability and sensitivity. The following scales met the criteria for a Suggested Recommendation:

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The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 182,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students.